Interesting History They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & Sold to the tannery...if you had to do this to survive you were "**** Poor".

But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot...they "didn't have a pot to **** in" & were the lowest of the low .

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some interesting tidbits about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell, Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor . Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting Married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs ."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up a clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old. Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing death by lead poisoning . This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust. Hence: The rich people or special people are called the "upper crust"

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination of lead and alcohol would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. The inbibers would collapse on the road. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence, the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.

Sorry, but they're somewhat false tidbits. Well, mostly false. Almost all false really. I wonder how much "knowledge" that is passed around at parties and work comes from like e-mails. Maybe that's how the whole global warming idea got started.

Deb Richardson wrote:Love Snopes! But neup99 why must you be a fun sucker. Oh wait I have been known to forward Snopes. Never mind.

Mostly because I know at least a couple people will perpetuate the stories from the e-mail and look a bit silly or foolish in front of friends or relatives. The most common ones seem to be the "missing person" e-mails or the "Bill Cosby is running for president and this is a letter he wrote..." e-mails. It seems like people have become wise to the e-mails as I see less of them in my inbox. Maybe because I will occasionally reply to the e-mail with the snopes site they just don't send them to me in the mass e-mail. Either way is fine with me.

Catfish wrote:Went to the snopes link and the debunked ones sound plausible as well. However what makes the snopes explanations any more true than the others?

Plausable and probable are two separate things to me. Also, Snopes will cite the source of the information they are quoting or referencing. I'd say also say "common sense" is a factor, but common sense is not really common and people seem to derive different information from common sense.

"There are two parties in politics: Republicans and Democrats. Republicans have bad ideas, Democrats have no ideas." - Lewis Black

Well then, UN-TILT! By the way Jeff, pardon me for using your finalization of sorts. Sometimes it's the most appropriate and the only thing that can be said. Besides fitting in so many conversations, it really cracks me up. Used it on my step son a couple times until he asked what it meant. Being 21 he never played a pinball machine. Didn't realize how dated that term must be. I asked him if he ever played pinball and shook it too hard. He said one time he shook it too hard. TILT-lights out-game over-done-finished.

Neup99, I don't believe it's used when you have nothing more intelligent to say. It's more used when something stupid is said or something that is so far out you don't know where it comes from or don't understand it. Now don't TILT me now!